I want to apologize to my lack of journaling over the last month. Thank you to all of you who are so faithful to read the journal entries, stay up to date, and pray for the kids here at Casa Aleluya.
I want to share with you all an incredible blessing from this Christmas. Please bear with me, while I give you some background and share this story, so that you can grasp the beauty of this 2nd Christmas of mine away from home. (Hang in there til the end...I know it's long, but it's a testimony to what the Lord has done.)
Two years ago on Christmas day, I was working at a residential rehabilitation center for teenage girls, as a residential counselor (live-in) and was, well, miserable. I was living 2,000 miles away from my family and friends, had not been able to go to church for the past 6 weeks (either due to work or being sick,) nor really even able to find a solid church home, even after living there for 5 months. The girls with whom we were working were often very temperamental and abusive in speech and defiant actions, although they did have their moments. On top of all of that, throughout this day of work on Christmas, the parents who were signed up to bring dishes for our Christmas meal together either only brought enough food for their own children or no food at all, and then the kitchen breaker blew it's spring, so I was left to throw together some brown sugar glaze, box mashed potatoes, and heat the ham we had in the refrigerator, all by lamplight (from the one outlet that was connected to a different breaker) on our (thankfully) gas stove. We finished eating just in time to leave the dishes and run to our 12-step meeting for the night. Needless to say, at the end of the day, I was shot--completely done, and inexpressibly ready for my 10-day vacation that was still 2 weeks away.
In retrospect, it's a bit humorous, and the girls who were there that day later told me they thought it was a really cool Christmas all together, and that they'd appreciated me trying to make the best of it. Still, it was an experience I did not care to repeat. With that memory in mind, I was a bit skeptical, more curious, as to how this Christmas, my second away from home, would turn out. It wouldn't do it justice to say I was pleasantly surprised.
A couple of days before Christmas, they girls and I went to the market in Antigua, armed with our lists in hand, and bought all the supplies we'd need to make our Christmas feast. We had agreed that I would make the turkey and they'd take care of the side dishes (all of Guatemalan tradition, of course.) I have never bought that much food at one time before!
So Christmas Eve came, and handed out all the presents from Mike and Dottie, teams and sponsors to the older kids that morning. Let me tell you, that is a sight to be seen! By noon the girls were all busily working away at chopping, slicing, mixing, and such in our kitchen. (We even had a little lesson on how to sharpen a knife to help them out.) A few of the girls spent the better part of the day in front of the TV, but most of them helped with the preparation in one way or another. I worked on preparing my first turkey without my mom (although she did give me some much needed phone support--thanks Mom!) and while it was baking, some of my TV queens helped put together a few desserts to accompany our feast. They're so cute when they're learning a new recipe; I think it's the most attentive I've even seen them! At about 6:30pm, we all headed over to the back property to watch a pretty impressive display of fireworks, put on by Jack, Ashley and Ryan Ciak. There were lots of "ooh!"s and "ahh!"s and cheering.
Finally the hour was drawing near. (The tradition here in Guatemala, as you may have read on others' journals, is to have the big celebration at midnight Christmas Eve-Christmas Day. Everyone sets of fireworks, then they enjoy the big feast, open presents, and finally go to bed around 3 or 4am, only to wake up to have more fireworks and another big meal around noon Christmas Day. Guatemalans know how to celebrate, that's for sure!) Wanting to keep as much national tradition as possible for the girls, we'd planned to have our big celebration at midnight, with our feast and presents, but we had an added bonus when Alex and Kevin set off another display of fireworks out on the soccer field at midnight.
We all rushed outside to see the show, and as I stood there, wrapped up in a blanket, with my girls there by me, staring up at these fireworks in the midnight sky, I couldn't help but reflect on that Christmas 2 years ago. I realized how blessed I was to be standing there in Guatemala on midnight of Christmas morning, taking part in one of this country's valued traditions, and sharing it with my girls, with whom the Lord has given me this gift of ministry. I thought about how hard I'd expected it would be to spend another Christmas away from my family and friends in the States, and how I'd been so worried that it'd be like Christmas of 2005 all over again, and how wrong I had been in all those expectations. Praise God. I kind of teared up reflecting on all that, and even in realizing that although I'd felt it was horrible at the time, the Lord had used even Christmas of 2005 to bless those girls in the middle of their struggle to start new lives clean and sober. He has been so faithful, in everything, even in the things I don't notice at the time.
After the fireworks, the girls and I went back to our dorm and enjoyed our day's labor in a meal well done, while we all celebrated together. I had one of them read the Christmas story from Luke, as a reminder of what this holiday is really all about, and why we celebrate with giving gifts, as we remember the Greatest Gift of All. After our feast, the girls opened their gifts from me, and were all so gracious--that was an added blessing to me. After our festivities, I let them stay up and finish the movie they were watching, and went on into my room for the night. The house was a HUGE mess, but I decided that the incredible job of cleaning up from the day of cooking and gift-opening would have to wait until morning (well, REAL morning anyways.) I went to bed that night exhausted, but totally joyful and blessed. Still, my very unexpected Christmas morning blessing was yet to come.
I walked out of my room at 7:45am to discover the cleanest living room and kitchen I have ever seen! Xiomara, Blanca, and Ada stayed up after everyone had left their messes, and cleaned the whole thing! I was so blessed and impressed by this act of service from them (as I'm sure were the rest of the girls as well) and thanked them for this gift and their hard work.
That afternoon, Mike and Dottie had the singles over to their house for Christmas lunch, which was another delicious blessing, both of food (thanks to Dottie for the meal and Paula for desserts!) and fellowship, as we were all able to sit around the table and just talk for a couple of hours. Very sweet time indeed.
I want to thank all of you who have prayed, worked, helped, and/or given in one way or another to make all of these blessing at Christmas this year possible...to all the sponsors and individuals who've given gifts, funds, time, energy, and heart to purchase gifts for the children, those who've carried down gifts and supplies (including yummy foods we can't get here,) all the staff who've worked so hard to make this a blessed time for the kids this year, Jack and Carolyn and all who worked so diligently to organize the Christmas bodega while Mike ad Dottie were in the States, friends and family of all of us here who have sent word down in one way or another to encourage us while we're away during this Christmas season, my sweet Mom and Dad who went the extra mile to make sure I had presents from them to open on Christmas morning, Mike and Dottie, who labor so compassionately to give these kids the gift of a Christmas they may never have had before, and who continue, day after day, to pour out their heart and soul as they serve the Lord in this ministry He has given them here, to love and care for these kids and impart to them the gift of eternal and abundant life in Him, through His Son, our Savior. To Him, finally, but MOST of all, we give all the thanks and glory for the blessing of this day we call Christmas, in which we celebrate, in memory of Him, this Greatest Gift of All, who was born unto us that day, in the city of David, "a Savior, which is Christ the Lord."
Be blessed in His might, His glory, mercy, and power, as you enter this New Year, and give Him all the praise and glory.
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